Thats exactly it, being polite doesn't do it. You gotta be quite forceful and be already raising your arm before they even know whats hit them and once you've got the shot, then you become polite! (Or completely ignore them and keep walking.)
It really helps to approach people and compliment them on a feature of their overall look, "thats a great beard you got there, let me take your portrait?" Etc etc. You gotta be quite fast and don't give them an option of getting out of it. Street photographers have got to be pretty rude I reckon. Just ask Bruce Gilden.

does this approach work as well in a quiet town as it does in a busy city street?
i know it varies by culture as well but im just curious from your experience

Thats exactly it, being polite doesn't do it. You gotta be quite forceful and be already raising your arm before they even know whats hit them and once you've got the shot, then you become polite! (Or completely ignore them and keep walking.)
It really helps to approach people and compliment them on a feature of their overall look, "thats a great beard you got there, let me take your portrait?" Etc etc. You gotta be quite fast and don't give them an option of getting out of it. Street photographers have got to be pretty rude I reckon. Just ask Bruce Gilden.

yah i usally dont say a thing and just snap them and walk away but ive been getting into asking them for there picture.

If you're talking HD video, as far as canon goes it goes something like this. 5D > 7D > 60D/T2i 550D > 500D/T1i. Def. not the best one, but it does a good job for its price. Hope you didn't play retail because after the 550D released they sold pretty cheap on ebay.

If you're talking HD video, as far as canon goes it goes something like this. 5D > 7D > 60D/T2i 550D > 500D/T1i. Def. not the best one, but it does a good job for its price. Hope you didn't play retail because after the 550D released they sold pretty cheap on ebay.

yeah she told me she bought it for 200 plus cause she knows the guy who works there as well owns the same thing and says its a great camera.. thats bout all she said. i wasnt suppose to know till xmas,but hell she cant keep her mouth shut haha and i dont really want it for the HD video but its a PLUS for me in the benching train world makes my life a lot easier in ways with them going by at 130miles/hr

it was taken at around.. 5 oclock, but in england now its getting really dark really fast, it was litterally night time, but i exposed it so it almost looked like full day time

One i took today

Yer mate londons getting dark as FUCK recntly...went out a few fridays ago to get some photos with the other half...at 5 i literally couldnt shoot anymore with 400 iso film and f1.2 lens...was sucky as!

a quick word of advice either over expose photos of london....or HDR them so you get the bridge etc exposed properley...or shoot raw and use a bit of fill light

Also it was really wierd devoting a few hours to literally shooting random people on the street yesterday and for a bit on friday....some people notice ya some people dont have a clue what your doing....some people get all uncomftorble...others smile and let it happen...some people pulled some crazy faces...was a wierd experience but meh waiting for my filsm to come back from the lab...im not gonna lie though manual focus can suck a tad for shooting this stuff....

Yer mate londons getting dark as FUCK recntly...went out a few fridays ago to get some photos with the other half...at 5 i literally couldnt shoot anymore with 400 iso film and f1.2 lens...was sucky as!

a quick word of advice either over expose photos of london....or HDR them so you get the bridge etc exposed properley...or shoot raw and use a bit of fill light

Also it was really wierd devoting a few hours to literally shooting random people on the street yesterday and for a bit on friday....some people notice ya some people dont have a clue what your doing....some people get all uncomftorble...others smile and let it happen...some people pulled some crazy faces...was a wierd experience but meh waiting for my filsm to come back from the lab...im not gonna lie though manual focus can suck a tad for shooting this stuff....

argh bloody rain! cant go out and shoot and print the photos i need for tuesday at college, i guess i'll have to go on a mission tomorrow morning till night, hopefully i will have alot more street photography aswell, and yeah, i think it is pretty weird shooting people like that, but when you have them in physical print or on a flickr or what ever, you get this satisfaction like yess, i got that, if you know what i mean? might just be going on at the moment lol

Yer mate londons getting dark as FUCK recntly...went out a few fridays ago to get some photos with the other half...at 5 i literally couldnt shoot anymore with 400 iso film and f1.2 lens...was sucky as!

a quick word of advice either over expose photos of london....or HDR them so you get the bridge etc exposed properley...or shoot raw and use a bit of fill light

Also it was really wierd devoting a few hours to literally shooting random people on the street yesterday and for a bit on friday....some people notice ya some people dont have a clue what your doing....some people get all uncomftorble...others smile and let it happen...some people pulled some crazy faces...was a wierd experience but meh waiting for my filsm to come back from the lab...im not gonna lie though manual focus can suck a tad for shooting this stuff....

when you say you cant shoot at 1.2 iso 400, what shutter speed is that around? or borderline acceptable to you

i know my method isnt crisp but i recently found iso 800 not as bad as i remembered. that, f 2.8 and somewhre around 1/8-1/15 works fine for me.
ive been trying to work on my panning as well anyway.
and im talking about 11pm kinda shit. of course street lights/ambient lights